On February 25, 2016, the National Mediation Board (NMB) released the election results in the effort by Allegiant flight attendants to decertify the Transport Workers Union (TWU). The effort to decertify the union failed and TWU will remain the representative of the flight attendants, even though it only received votes from 40 percent of them.

The NMB does not have an employee-friendly process for returning to “no representative” status after a union is certified. Rather, employees must follow the exact same process applicable in union organizing campaigns with dozens of organizers and lawyers and millions of dollars – they must collect authorization cards from 50 percent of the group and then obtain a “no representative” vote from the majority of voters.

In July 2015, an Allegiant flight attendant seeking to decertify TWU filed an application for an election – such purported representative is called a “straw man”. After months of legal challenges by the TWU seeking to throw out some of the authorization cards, the NMB determined in January 2016 that at least 50 percent of the workgroup had submitted cards in support of the election. In the election of 731 eligible voters, only 570 voted – 273 voted for “no” representation, 13 votes short of the needed majority; 289 voted for the TWU and 8 voted for other purported representatives, including the straw man and “Allegiant 4 Me,” the pro-decertification group. Under NMB rules, all “yes” votes are counted in favor of representation.

Flight attendants at Allegiant have been represented by the TWU for over five years without achieving a first contract.